Will the kemonomimi encounter Alien Ranch Story?

"Oh, a food merchant? That's very welcome!" In the snowy plains of Ursus, no one is more popular in winter than a food merchant. The inspector became even more enthusiastic and even handed Xia Lin two tobacco products.

"What kinds of agricultural products are these, and what are their prices?"

"Cabbage, potatoes, onions, plus some tomatoes and turnips. Oh, and a few boxes of chicken and a big basket of eggs. As for the price, I'll have to check the market price first."

"You have tomatoes! How are they grown? Oh, sorry, could you save me a few for a discount? I get off work around 5 p.m. The gate for agricultural products and food trading is at gate number six. Just turn right when you get there, that's the biggest and busiest one. Tell them you're going to sell food, and the guides there will take your car to the docking gate. If you need porters, just shout out in the square."

Soon, the mobile trading station ahead was lifted onto the platform, and it was Xia Lin's turn. The weight of the bull made the technician in charge of the elevator pause for a moment.

However, in the end, they did not exceed the limits of the mobile platform lifting equipment. They simply told him tactfully that the vehicle could probably only be parked on the trading deck and could not enter the commercial area via the elevator above.

The lifting equipment above couldn't possibly move this thing, which weighed over two hundred tons (almost three hundred tons) after being fully loaded with modules, to the commercial street on the top floor.

However, Xia Lin had heard that wholesale and bulk goods transactions were all near the lower gate, and since he didn't intend to sell retail, there was no need to carry the bull to the central commercial street at the top.

The plaza was much smaller than Xia Lin had imagined. After the bull was lifted onto the deck, it only took a few meters to reach Gate 6. Perhaps having received a notification from those below, some guides dressed in yellow vests were hurriedly directing other mobile platforms and trucks to make room for the bull to dock.

Traders can choose to use the elevators on both sides of the gate to transport goods to the commercial or warehousing area above to restock the shops. They can also drive their vehicles and platforms into the indoor trading area inside the gate to set up a shop stall mode and display samples. However, Gate 6, as a large-scale food trading gate, is a little different.

Inside the gate, instead of an indoor trading area, there was a large parking docking area where drones and porters were moving large quantities of boxes back and forth. A mobile trading platform seemed to have completed a large-scale purchase and was gradually leaving the docking area.

Xia Lin leaned the bull against the interface, causing the ground to sink slightly by about 2 meters, allowing the warehouses or passage platforms of a typical trading station to align with the trading interface.

However, Xia Lin's bull was clearly not a conventional design, which posed a challenge for the staff responsible for opening the docking ramp. Fortunately, he quickly signaled to them that they didn't need to bother.

Following the staff's instructions, Xia Lin unloaded some of the cargo samples from the vehicle and piled them on the side of the trading interface. There was an internal elevator there that could take you directly to the commercial area, where you could also display the goods and check the city's official material purchase prices, etc.

The entire docking area is U-shaped, with five large docking ports and seven or eight small docking ports. The central open space can also be opened up and unloaded by manual handling, making it very busy.

After paying a docking station usage fee of about 20 silver coins, Xia Lin obtained the short-term right to use the station. The station was divided into two floors: the upper floor was the docking ramp and operating room, and the lower floor was a temporary storage and transfer area.

If you sell the goods directly to the officials of Meiquan Town, you only need to complete the transaction contract, and then the porters can unload the goods to the lower level, take the money and leave. The whole process can be completed in as little as 2 hours.

However, transactions with other merchants are a bit more complicated, involving somewhat cumbersome cargo transfer procedures and verification processes, which can take several hours to a day to complete, depending on the situation. Of course, this refers to bulk commodities; retail transactions are much simpler.

There is a retail market area there, and if you have a shop leased locally, there are also dedicated transfer warehouses and freight elevators to replenish goods to the shops on the commercial deck above.

Xia Lin doesn't plan to sell these things for the time being. He needs to carefully examine the official purchase price and the purchase price of local merchants, and then look at the prices of the minerals and other commodities he needs in the local area, in order to make a comprehensive decision.

"Yelena, is the door locked?"

"It's locked..." The white rabbit knocked on the door, making a solid metallic sound, and nimbly leaped across the nearly two-meter gap onto the docking station platform. "Would anyone really steal it?"

"Probably not, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Also, keep your guns out of reach." Although Meiquan Town doesn't prohibit merchants from bringing weapons into the town—after all, in the Ursus snowfield, merchants can't survive without weapons—they at least can't bring weapons into the trading hall and commercial street.

Xia Lin paid rent for two days' worth of goods. Therefore, the two of them had plenty of time to go shopping or investigate businesses. As for safety, Xia Lin had hidden a Talon Gauss pistol inside his clothes.

Due to the nature of firearms, shorter barrels result in lower power, so pistols are almost never listed as prohibited weapons. Of course, there's an exception: a certain wealthy cat-headed girl using fully etched ammunition; she's just burning money.

This level of the mobile city is a commercial or large-scale commercial area, divided into several trading halls according to food, energy, minerals, machinery and consumer goods, looking just like a stock market.

Buy and sell information is displayed on individual signs, and dedicated traders use long poles to change the numbers, prices, quantities, etc. Xia Lin can also post her buy or sell information here if she has any needs.

If someone is willing to make a deal, they will contact him or go to his contact point to meet with him or pick up a sample.

Each hall corresponds to a separate gate, connected by a winding commercial street filled with various locals buying and selling land. This is a large-scale trading market, and few ordinary citizens come here to buy things, so there are not many people on the street.

Two floors up by elevator is a normal local commercial street, resembling a large indoor shopping mall, which is Xia Lin's first stop.

He'll leave the upscale shopping street on the top floor for later, mainly to browse the jewelry stores.

In the early days when humans couldn't recognize the value of many minerals, some rare minerals were sold as gemstones or similar items. He was just looking around to see if there was anything special. Of course, that was just a casual stroll to determine the types of minerals on the planet.

Since it's being sold as jewelry, it means he can't buy it by the ton. That tiny amount is meaningless for industrial production, unless it's raw gemstone ore, in which case it can be purchased by the ton.

Xia Lin's plan was as follows: first, to stroll around the commercial street and see what local specialties or valuable items she could process herself. In any case, buying vegetables and fruits directly would be very cheap.

Especially if a large amount of raw materials and machinery are needed later, relying solely on primary agricultural products is just asking to be harvested by the shears of industrial and agricultural workers.

"By the way, Yelena, is there anything you'd like to buy?"

"No," the white rabbit thought for a moment and shook her head. She had food, drink, and new clothes, so she obviously didn't have any other needs.

Even the products made in Xia Lin's workshop were much better than the crudely made ones she saw here.

“Okay, let’s go through them one by one. First, let’s check out the clothing stores, then the supermarket for local snacks and food, then the cosmetics stores and small accessory stores, and finally the fast food restaurants and grocery stores.”

"Is...what's the point?" the white rabbit asked curiously. It didn't seem like there was any purpose to it. "Xia Lin, didn't you come here to find ores and metals?"

"Yes, so the next stop will be the trading hall below. Oh, and I also need to browse the electronics or Originium tools shop."

Although I don't need it, Yelena and the others should be able to use it. Some Originium machines are quite interesting, aren't they?

Next, Xia Lin enthusiastically dragged the white rabbit around the three-story shopping area, which resembled a super-large indoor mall. She transformed into the ultimate curious child, constantly asking the saleswoman or the white rabbit what it was, what it was made of, and what it was used for—like a very ignorant tourist, and the type who only looked and didn't buy anything.

This made Yelena feel the stares from all around, as if she were a country bumpkin, and she was starting to feel overwhelmed.

Especially those who only look and don't buy, and cause a lot of trouble; if it weren't for their clothes and appearance not looking like they were poor, they would have been kicked out by now.

Chapter Forty-Nine: Are you trying to make fun of me?

Chapter 49

After wandering around for several hours and leaving a list of items to buy in PNIS's personal log, Xia Lin and White Rabbit returned to the lower trading hall. They decided not to touch the machinery and energy sectors for the time being. Terra's mechanical industry seemed passable, but they were all Originium machinery, which had problems in terms of size, safety, and convenience.

The main problem is that Xia Lin is unlikely to have the talent for Originium Arts, which makes many electronic devices that rely on Originium somewhat difficult to use.

Of course, this refers to the Originium affinity that Terrans basically consider instinctive, rather than the actual Originium Arts, which is what is called "spells".

If Xia Lin wanted to use even the most basic electronic devices, he would need some external auxiliary equipment and consume pure Originium or Originium processing reagents, which is obviously unnecessary. It's not like he needs to command and control a certain doctor on Rhodes Island through neural connections.

The same applies to energy. As a high-energy mineral, Originium should theoretically be able to be purchased. However, the farm currently has sufficient nuclear fuel and reactors, so there is no need to use Originium-powered systems immediately, especially since Originium-powered systems are relatively large and have serious side effects.

Moreover, replacing the energy core is not as simple as changing a battery as laymen might imagine. It requires a complete overhaul of the entire workshop's energy structure, distribution, and transmission systems, as well as related control components. Furthermore, compared to unfamiliar things like Originium, Xia Lin has more faith in the Covenant's fusion energy.

As for consumer goods, we do plan to purchase a batch. The main issue is that the farm's automated production facilities can only produce a limited range of products. Many things still require manual labor, which is undoubtedly unnecessary. Some of the daily necessities and consumer goods that Terra can provide can be purchased directly.

Compared to the medieval-like life in the Ursus countryside, the city was clearly modernized, with wide electronic billboards, streetlights, and Xia Lin even saw a rotary-wing drone carrying a simple package flying overhead.

The ore and metals trading area is unlike any other trading area. There are no loading or unloading areas here, only museum-like display shelves and brochures from mining companies of all sizes, as well as a fee-charging inspection agency set up by the local government.

The trading of ores and metals is not like picking and choosing at a vegetable market, especially for bulk trade, which can only take place when cities are connected.

This place mainly showcases the mineral samples, quality, and corporate strength of mining companies in Meiquan Town. To actually make a purchase, you can only contact the relevant companies at the address listed in the brochure to agree on the delivery date, quantity, and location.

If it's within the city limits that Meiquan Town regularly connects with, the price might be cheaper.

Otherwise, the complex warehousing, handling, and transportation involved would significantly increase the expenses for metals and minerals, making them considerably more expensive.

What Xia Lin needs are the samples and finished metal samples here, as well as various promotional brochures. This means he can roughly grasp the production volume, composition and type of these items, and which supplier to contact to make the purchase.

Aside from common metal ingots and ores such as copper, iron, and tin, local specialty metals include a metal processing byproduct called heteroferrite, which is simply impurities that precipitate out during smelting and are then inertized to coalesce into a stable metallic structure.

It is said that under non-specific circumstances, there is an occasional purification effect that causes the iron to decrease in hardness and increase in purity. After extremely harsh processing, a new type of material that is extremely strong and even breaks through the material limits can be obtained.

Xia Lin's portable scanning device couldn't analyze this thing. However, taking it back and processing it in an electronic furnace might yield some surprises; its mechanical materials could barely reach the level of high-quality titanium alloy, allowing for the purchase of a small batch for manufacturing antioxidant metal materials.

Then there is the scalar alloy, which is made by melting various rare metals and used in the electronics industry. Since the discharge of Originium is extremely unstable and the energy level is very high, it is essentially a "staff" for electronic products. Naturally, high-quality scalar alloys are needed to make key components and buffer filter components. This metal has a very high melting point.

The material that is inlaid with it is a multi-faceted cluster of metallic minerals with a code name of RAM-24, which has a high conductivity with Originium Arts.

Basically, it's a very unusual technological product, and Xia Lin added them all to her shopping list.

In addition, regarding raw materials for consumer products, he also plans to purchase a batch of ketone raw materials for use as adhesives. It's truly unexpected that Terra would possess such chemical products.

After finalizing the initial purchase list, Xia Lin returned to the food trading area and began browsing various price tags. As the seller, the things he needed to know were not so complicated; he only needed to consider the price, payment method, and requirements.

Soon, Xia Lin selected three trading partners: the potatoes and cabbages were sold directly to the official purchasing agency in Meiquan Town.

The tomatoes were sold to a food processing plant to make tomato sauce, and the chicken was bought by another cannery.

Since the quantities were small, the entire process was handled directly by the exchange. Xia Lin didn't even see the representatives of the three companies; the exchange's agents simply inspected the goods and accepted them.

The subsequent procurement work went smoothly. The purchase of consumer goods and the purchase of some daily necessities for the white rabbit were all done without any problems. Xia Lin paid the money and then had the store's delivery personnel deliver the items to the parking space storage area at Gate 6.

However, there are some major problems with ore procurement, mainly because Xia Lin doesn't have enough money, and one Bull truck isn't heavy enough.

After all, it's agricultural machinery, not those super-large mining transport vehicles. Mining trucks require a special license, and even if he had one, he couldn't drive it.

At first, when Xia Lin requested to purchase a batch of commonly used copper and iron metals, as well as some heteroferroic and incandescent alloys, the branch of the large mining group called Amster received him very warmly and even offered him tea.

After all, winter is the off-season for mining, and most of the salespeople are bored out of their minds, so they try to get as much business as they can.

"Our company has decades of experience in the mining industry and can fulfill any order. Aside from the possibility of some difficulty in sourcing RAM-24, we have ample stock, so you can rest assured..."

"Yes, I understand. I've seen your brochures and samples, and I'm quite satisfied. I wonder what your delivery period is..."

"Rest assured, all the handover procedures can be completed within two days at the latest. If you are responsible for the transportation, it can be even faster..."

"How much faster can it be? Can I have it right away?"

"This..." Large-scale ore transactions are not simple matters, especially for large companies like this. Their ore is not stored in the mobile city, and the heavy city block cannot be taken away.

Instead, the goods are stored at mines and dedicated freight stations. During the delivery process, the goods are transferred and delivered to the agreed locations via large transportation platforms.

Of course, if the customer is willing to bear the transportation themselves, then all you need to do is provide the nearest large storage location and let them pick up the goods themselves.

However, to say that immediate delivery is indeed a bit difficult. But when faced with an order, there are no difficulties. The manager clearly looked conflicted, but finally gritted his teeth and said, "If the quantity you require isn't very large, yes, when do you need it, and when will the delivery truck arrive?"

"The car is waiting downstairs, is it okay right away? The daily parking fee isn't a small amount."

"I understand," I said. The parking fees for large fleets of transport platforms for ore are indeed not low.

However, we didn't expect the other party to be in such a hurry. They actually brought their convoy over ahead of time, ready to load the goods.

But thinking about it carefully, if it weren't urgent, who would brave a blizzard in the dead of winter to buy ore?

"Okay, how much do you need? I'll go and process the paperwork and arrange the goods right away, ensuring that you can complete the shipment before today's payment deadline."

This inevitably requires using some public relations resources and internal connections, but it's all worthwhile in the face of performance and commission.

“Okay, let me calculate…” Xia Lin considered the bull’s load capacity and the pressure of the elevator. “How about this, I only need some samples of the iron and other materials. I will purchase a large quantity next time, which will also make it easier for you to transfer and store the goods.”

"Okay, so what about the remaining common minerals?" It sounds like the commission has been reduced quite a bit, but I'll just believe them since they say they still need to make purchases.

After all, if he really needed a large quantity of exotic iron, the head office might be able to organize the supply immediately, but his branch office here certainly didn't have that capability.

Although it was regrettable, it was an acceptable fact. Then the manager heard an unbelievable number: "Fifty tons, fifty tons first, delivery immediately."

"Wait a minute, sir, I think I misheard..." The middle-aged man with rabbit ears twitched his ears. "How many tons do you want? Five hundred thousand tons?"

"No, it's fifty tons..."

"Uh..." The words "Are you here to make fun of me?" almost slipped out, and the other person's expression changed almost instantly from enthusiasm to freeze to indifference.

In the trading of mineral products, the unit is generally 10,000 tons. Terra, considering the transportation volume, basically starts from thousands of tons. If you find a large mining company and say that you want to buy "a batch" of ore, and then you quote a quantity of fifty tons... it may only be one or two containers.